TOKYO: International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has said in an interview with British broadcaster BBC that the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games will be canceled if it cannot take place next summer.

The sporting event, originally scheduled for summer this year, has been postponed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 2020 Tokyo Summer Paralympics has also been put off to next year.

"You cannot forever employ 3,000 to 5,000 people in an (Olympics) organizing committee," Bach said. "You cannot every year change the entire sports schedule worldwide of all the major (sports) federations. You cannot have the athletes being in uncertainty."

Bach also revealed that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told him that hosting the games next summer is "the last option."

On the possibility of the Olympics being held with no audience, the IOC chief said, "This is not what we want."

"When it then would come to the decision...I would ask you to give me some more time for consultation with the athletes, with the World Health Organization, with the Japanese partners," he added.

Regarding the impact of the work to develop coronavirus vaccines on the games, Bach said that the IOC will rely on advice from the WHO and then "take the appropriate decision at the appropriate time based on this advice."

He also stressed the need to prepare for an array of scenarios for holding the games next summer, saying that athletes and other participants may need to be quarantined.

JIJI Press